Pinar del Río in the golden hour

nanixxx (73)in Worldmappin • last year (edited)

I recently spent two days in Pinar del Rio. I traveled about 100 miles from Havana to there. While I was in that city I barely had time to walk around its streets, because I was busy with this. But... there was a moment when the hivers and friends @eduardo900613 and @mariolisrnaranjo invited me to try Pinar's Coppelia ice cream.

It was very funny to me because they would say, come on, run, it's empty. This means that there is no line to get through, and you can arrive, enter freely, sit down and order your ice cream without much hassle.

I immediately understood why, just by looking at the board announcing the ice cream flavors and specialties. They had only two, soursop and caramel, and I think the ice cream is a bit expensive in relation to the salaries of state workers.

This photo is the proof of the empty room and I took it before settling into that emblematic chair, of all Coppelia in Cuba, including the Havana one.

I confess that I only enjoyed the company of my friends in that place because the quality of the ice cream was pitiful. When we finished, they continued on their way home and I went walking alone, back to the headquarters of the Hermanos Saíz Association (HSA), where we had the workshop. And here comes the part of the golden hour when...

I got lost.

What happens is that even if they tell me seven times the way to go, I always end up getting lost. My sense of direction is very bad.

{That photo of the columns is cheating, because at that point I already knew where I was. But I really liked it because you see a lot of portals like this one, that people take advantage of to get out of the sun while walking.}

From this portal, let's go back in time to tell you what happened to me.

Well, I had two options left, ask the locals... and of course I asked, because people say that by asking you get to Rome; hahaha, they say that, don't they?

However, I didn't want to go that far, at least for the moment, and so I caught some scenes as I made my way back to the little house next to Café Ortúzar (We'll get to the part where I tell you why I'm mentioning this now).

I was so busy taking pictures that I didn't even remember I could use google map. That's the Post Office on the street... (forget it) :D

Here I must have turned right at this same corner, but... I don't remember either.

That pink thing you see over there is a state bakery, without bread. Lots of signs. Oh, I hate those signs that don't add anything.

A little further ahead, there lives someone who fixes shoes.

And another street to cross.

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At this point I kept thinking about how many old American cars there are all over Cuba. Not only in Havana, where they have made them a tourist attraction. I don't know if it works in Pinar del Río as it does in the capital.

I also stopped to look at the sky and thought nonsense, verses, music, distant and inappropriate things indeed, because I had to pay attention, lest a car run over me.

On the back glass it says it's a '56 Buick. The previous one must be a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air? I don´t know. Tell me, please.

I don't know much about cars, my thing is winged and fantastic creatures. These days I've been dreaming that I have a horse, I mean, a Ferrari :D (dreaming doesn't cost anything, does it?)

I was still disoriented and although I recognized this park and an office of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, from a time when I came to work in these surroundings, I did not know where I had to go and decided to ask where Café Ortúzar was located. It's a great reference, everybody knows it and I have a lot of pictures of that place. And right next door is the HSA.

I think there is a WIFI zone there because everyone was so focused on their smartphones. One old man told me to keep walking in the direction I was going, and ask further down the road. That would be to the right of the photo... straight ahead there, captain, my captain.

There were not many people on the street. It was the golden hour for me, but the Pinareños I guess were very busy getting dinner, bathing, helping their children to do their homework, because at any moment they could turn off the electricity. They are having power cuts almost every day.

I was going completely the wrong direction until a man told me to go back to a yellow house in the distance and turn right.

The car and the girl crossing the street were coming from over there, but I swerved a bit because behind me I found a cement canvas.

I was there for a while photographing the wall and its details, but now we can't linger here, because the golden hour will end and we have to see something there in the direction of Café Ortúzar, before that happens.

Let's go to the yellow house.

Now turn right.

Do you remember? 😂 Hurry up!

And here we are going to stay a few seconds waiting for what has to happen... let's walk just a few steps forward. It is a secret that I am going to tell you: time travelers can sometimes change things, but at the end of the day something must remain intact for them to be able to return to that journey. Listen carefully, they are coming.

I love this scene, I would relive it many times if I go back to this temporal trip.

It's that I was mounting a great story for a photographic essay in red and I had in my arsenal a...

This is how my best friend, Li, kept it almost intact for me.

But I didn't do it (the Red-Essay). Time often plays me dirty. I have to tell you I love Nutella but there were other people who also enjoy it so I was very decent and ate just a little.

Now we can go drink something at the Ortúzar Café, why not?